Abstract

The current study has aimed to explore strategic processes of English reading comprehension among Iranian ESP learners across three academic fields of medicine, computer engineering and law. To this end, 90 intermediate ESP learners were selected from a population of 180 volunteers, based on their performance on a standard placement test (Edwards, 2007). Afterwards, participants completed Survey of Reading Strategies (SORS) (Mokhtari & Sheorey, 2002). The results of the statistical analysis uncovered the individual reading strategy preferences and weaknesses of ESP learners and also indicated that intermediate ESP learners moderately perceived the use of reading strategies while reading academic texts in English. Also, an attempt has been made to identify whether there are significant differences regarding the frequency of perceived individual and overall reading strategy use across the three disciplines. The findings of the study would help ESP teachers to gain a more profound understanding of ESP learners’ strategic processes of L2 reading.Key words: ESP; Reading; Strategy; Reading strategies; Metacognitive awareness of reading strategies